Alpha 1 is done, and the floodgates have opened! Let’s check out the action from the last few days before we’re inundated with updates…

Master of the Ubuntu toolchain, Matthias Klose, has updated the LLVM compiler stack — including llvm, clang and dragonegg — to version 2.7, the latest stable release. These uploads are of particular interest because Matthias has chosen to push fresher versions of clang and dragonegg to Maverick than exist in Debian.

A bit of background: LLVM is a set of compiler and toolchain components, perhaps most famously used by Apple for OpenGL/OpenCL, and Google’s project to optimize CPython, Unladen Swallow. clang is a complete C/C++/Objective-C compiler based on LLVM, while dragonegg allows GCC to use LLVM’s optimiser and code generator via a plugin.

While no public blueprints outline Ubuntu’s plans for LLVM, I have the sneaking suspicion these uploads do not simply reflect Matthias’ fetish for bleeding edge compiler technology!

If you’ve had any troubles with metacity or mutter disappearing, the problem (related to client side decorations) was corrected a couple of days ago.

While a treasure trove of patches for rhythmbox moved upstream (hooray!), a couple of noticeable changes have caused a bit of a ruckus… The bad news is that Rhythmbox’s DAAP sharing plugin has been temporarily disabled, as it depends on a new package which has not yet landed in Maverick — don’t worry, it will return. The good news is that Rhythmbox has a delicious new icon (below). I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if this gift from upstream is short-lived (replaced with Ubuntu artwork), so enjoy it while it lasts!

While we’re talking about delicious music players, Maverick is now tracking the 1.7 releases of banshee.

Those who enjoy freedom from power cables will appreciate an update to apt-xapian-index — a serial offender when it comes to power consumption. The index update procedure is now heavily niced, reducing CPU and I/O load, and will not run on battery power.

That’s all for now — look out for an action-packed, post-freeze update over the next few days.

Maverick Meerkat

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Despite leaving behind his days as a community leader and evangelist in the GNOME and Ubuntu projects, Jeff still can't shake his appetite for the white-knuckle, rollercoaster ride that is the six-month, time-based release cycle.